. However, the role of brain lateralization in learning abilities is still unclear. In addition, although recent studies suggest a link between some personality traits and accuracy in cognitive tasks, the relation between anxiety and learning skills in Skinner boxes nee...

When a predator attacks a flock of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), involving thousands of individuals, a typical collective escape response is the so-called agitation wave, consisting of one or more dark bands (pulses) propagating through the flock and moving away from th...

AbstractUnderstanding how animal groups form and function is a major goal in behavioural ecology. Both genetic relatedness and familiarity among group mates have been shown to be key mediators of group composition. However, disentangling the two in most species is chall...

Theory predicts persistence of long-term family relationships in vertebrates will occur until perceived fitness costs exceed benefits to either parents or offspring. We examined whether increased breeding probability and survival were associated with prolonged parent–of...

The aim of the present study was to analyze whether the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) differs between two regrouping procedures in goats, which would indicate stimulus specificity of these stressors. Applying two regrouping procedures, we evaluated hear...

Neonate ruminants produce distress calls when captured by a predator and discomfort milk begging calls when hungry. In many neonate ruminants, the distress and discomfort calls are high-frequency vocalizations, in which the fundamental frequency is the key variable for ...

In fish, as well as in other vertebrates, contrasting suites of physiological and behavioral traits, or coping styles, are often shown in response to stressors. However, the magnitude of the response (i.e. stress responsiveness) has been suggested to be independent of s...

Personality traits (i.e. consistent individual differences in behaviour) often covary, forming behavioural syndromes. Such associations, if driven by an underlying proximate mechanism, could limit the independent evolution of each behaviour. In contrast, a behavioural s...

Abstract Group living reduces individual predation risk most effectively when group members are behaviorally and phenotypically similar. Group preferences are influenced by the individual, the members of the shoal, and the environmental conditions. While shoaling behavi...

Motor self-regulation is the ability to inhibit a prepotent response to a salient cue in favour of a more appropriate response. Motor self-regulation is an important component of the processes that interact to generate effective inhibitory control of behaviour, and is t...